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NZ Herald
6 days ago
- Health
- NZ Herald
Cancer strikes three generations of family after French nuclear tests – Rainbow Warrior: A Forgotten History
She is one of a growing number of French Polynesians suffering from cancer and other illnesses linked to radiation poisoning that they believe has been passed down from generation to generation. As the podcast describes, it's Hina's story – literally the fallout of France's nuclear ambitions in the Pacific – that led Greenpeace to step up its protest campaign and then France's fateful decision to blow up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland on July 10, 1985. 'I really felt that I had poison in my blood, in my genes,' Hina told Noelle McCarthy. 'I was a young mum when I first got diagnosed, and the first diagnosis was very bad – they thought that I had the worst leukaemia.' Hina's son was a toddler when she was diagnosed. Initially she thought she had only six months to live. 'The most painful feeling was to think that I didn't have the time to teach all I wanted to teach to my son. I really thought – how will he do things without his mum? It was the worst, thinking I will not be able to raise my child.' Hina has since gone on to have another child, but she says she knows many people in French Polynesia who choose not to have children. '[My husband and I] had a big discussion: are we allowed to have another kid? Is it responsible, now that I know I was poisoned? He also has a lot of radiation-induced cancer in his family: his uncles, his dad. We feel guilty. I think of many other people I know who've decided not to have kids and it's terrible." Noelle McCarthy (left) with anti-nuclear activist Hinemoeura Morgant-Cross in Tahiti. Growing up in Tahiti in the 1990s, Hina says she knew nothing about the French nuclear programme, except for the economic benefits. 'I remember my teacher telling us that, thanks to the French nuclear tests, we are a developed country. We have school, we have roads, the airport, access to TV, internet, all the goods in shops and at home. There was one small photo in our schoolbook and that was it.' But when Hina was diagnosed with cancer, it was her grandmother, her mother's mother, who made the painful connection between her granddaughter's life-threatening illness and the legacy of nuclear testing. 'She felt very guilty about my leukaemia – she thought she should have fought more against the nuclear testing in the 1960s, she should have protested more. I had to stop going to see my grandma because every time I visited her, she was crying.' A legacy of unspoken shame around the testing makes the connection between nuclear fallout and cancer hard to talk about, Hina says. At the beginning, she found it difficult to speak about her own diagnosis openly. 'I was ashamed to say I had leukaemia. It was a hard thing.' The "Licorne' French nuclear test explosion at Fangataufa Atoll in Mururoa French Polynesia, July 3, 1970. Photo / Alain Nogues/Sygma via Getty Images Hina's cancer turned out to be treatable. She takes medicine every day to manage it: on the day we speak, she is marking 12 years of living with leukaemia. Her illness is partly what started her on the path to becoming a politician – today she is a member of Tahiti's National Assembly, elected on a platform of anti-nuclear activism in 2023. She's spoken all over the world, including at the United Nations in 2019. 'General de Gaulle came to Tahiti in 1966 and talked to my people about a big development. What development? Miscarriage, handicaps, cancer, leukaemia? I finished my speech by saying that for 30 years, we have been the lab rat, the guinea pig of the French state.' French nuclear bombs were tested in French Polynesia up until 1996. In June the French parliament recommended the Government apologise and make changes to a much-criticised compensation law. The recommendations have not yet been passed into law. Rainbow Warrior: A Forgotten History is a six-episode true crime series. Follow the series on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are released on Thursdays. The series is hosted and produced by John Daniell and Noelle McCarthy of Bird of Paradise Productions in co-production with the New Zealand Herald. Rainbow Warrior: A Forgotten History is supported by New Zealand on Air.
New York Post
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Fashionistas are swarming an NYC pharmacy to snatch Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's coveted, iconic headband
She's still turning heads — and inspiring headbands. Nearly three decades after Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's life was cut short in a devastating plane crash, her chic, minimalist and unfussy style legacy lives on — and Gen Z can't get enough. A $36, ¾-inch tortoiseshell headband made by French hair accessory brand Charles J. Wahba and famously worn by the style icon in the '90s has become one of the hottest summer accessories — thanks to a recent social-media moment. Advertisement 9 Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's simple hair accessory is having a moment right now with younger generations. Sygma via Getty Images As a result, fashion mavens are now swarming C.O. Bigelow pharmacy in the West Village — where the exact headband is still sold — to emulate her elegant, effortless look. 'I think the first TikTok video about the headbands [and their association with CBK] was made by somebody from the Netherlands who was visiting New York City in 2023,' owner Ian Ginsberg told The Post. Advertisement While Ginsberg can't pinpoint exactly when the store began selling the French-made headbands, he said they were likely there 'way before' CBK started buying them. 9 Bessette-Kennedy was known for wearing the no-frills headband around NYC. Emmy Park for The resurgence comes amid news of Ryan Murphy's upcoming FX drama, 'American Love Story,' about CBK and John F. Kennedy Jr., a project facing backlash over so-called lackluster costume choices. No matter — fans are skipping the screen and heading to the spot where CBK once shopped, a fact confirmed by Vogue in 2023. Advertisement The tortoiseshell option became a street-style staple years ago, thanks to numerous paparazzi shots showing CBK wearing oval black shades and the no-frills accessory. @lydiarosehawken CAROLYN BESSETTE-KENNEDY'S FAVOURITE HEADBAND SHOP IN NYC 🍎❤️ If you follow me then you'll know I love my headbands so there was no way I wasn't going to pay a visit to CO Bigelow in Greenwich village on my recent trip. The fashion icon Carolyn Besette-Kennedy was one of the shop's most loyal customers and you can still purchase her favourite hair accessories today 🥹 #carolynbessettekennedy #greenwichvillage #nycguide #fashionjournalist ♬ Groovin' – The Young Rascals 9 CBK would often be seen around town sporting the now-famous hair wear. Sygma via Getty Images Ian and his son Alec Ginsberg, the store's COO, said C.O. Bigelow never promoted the pieces, but sales have exploded since TikTok picked up on the connection. Advertisement 'There was never really a resurgence,' Alec said. 'The demand never really died.' Now, thanks to the recent buzz, sales are spiking again — and those in the know say they're a steal, even at 2025 prices. (Store reps weren't certain of the price CBK would have paid decades ago.) 'The headbands are definitely worth the hype,' makeup artist and beauty mogul Olivia Barad told The Post. 'They feel extremely high quality and come in many different widths and colors.' She added, 'They are also very comfortable, which is super important. I'm very particular about the pattern and color of tortoiseshell that I wear, and these headbands get it absolutely correct.' Carolina DelRio, the store's beauty manager, said that when she first started working there a decade ago, the Wahba headbands came in just three colors: tortoiseshell, beige and black. 9 C.O. Bigelow's social media manager, Annika Ford, also opts for the same style and coloring preferred by Bessette-Kennedy. Emmy Park for Now the store offers similar pieces in more vibrant hues like hot pink and coral. Advertisement While many younger fans are just discovering C.O. Bigelow, located at 414 Sixth Ave., the 187-year-old apothecary has long been a family-run landmark drawing shoppers from far beyond Greenwich Village — and remains an NYC retail icon. Since 1838, its mixed personalized remedies and plant-based tinctures have served everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Sarah Jessica Parker and Mark Twain. 9 On Sixth Avenue, C.O. Bigelow isn't your average drugstore — it's America's oldest apothecary. Emmy Park for 9 Accessory expert Natalie O'Rourke dishes out free, custom hair tutorials at the store — whether you're channeling Bessette-Kennedy with a headband or going full Parisian with French pins. Emmy Park for Advertisement 'The store has such a classic and timeless charm that is completely in line with Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's style and aesthetic,' Barad said. Although C.O. Bigelow is nearly two centuries old, Alec said their customer base has been getting younger — most likely thanks to CBK's influence. 'I often help customers find the most flattering accessories for their hair color and always put that beloved tortoiseshell headband out for customers to find easily when I'm creating the displays,' accessories merchandiser Natalie O'Rourke said. 9 The $36 tortoiseshell staple from French brand Charles J. Wahba is flying off the shelves at Greenwich Village's C.O. Bigelow — the very spot CBK used to shop. Emmy Park for Advertisement Apart from C.O. Bigelow, the headbands are also available at Zitomer on Madison Avenue — a nearly 75-year-old Upper East Side pharmacy where CBK reportedly picked up shampoo and scrunchies. Though Wahba's hair accessories are sold in about 80 salons and shops nationwide, the brand has no website or social media — in step with CBK's low-key ethos, as reported by the New York Times. As a Calvin Klein publicist with a razor-sharp eye, the late fashionista favored minimalist power pieces from Prada, Jil Sander and Yohji Yamamoto — but she was also famously frugal. 9 Bessette-Kennedy dressed to impress, but was all about practicality. Sygma via Getty Images Advertisement 'Carolyn represents this chic, quiet luxury style I think many women want to emulate but feel they can't afford. So the headbands provide an affordable and accessible way to participate,' influencer Beverly Hart told The Post. According to the 2023 book 'CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion' by Sunita Kumair Nair, CBK had full access to luxury brands like Manolo Blahnik and could afford anything — but only bought what she needed and insisted on paying, instead of accepting a freebie. CBK stuck to her style playbook — snapping up crisp white shirts, tailored coats, penny loafers and loads of blackout-worthy black, often buying the same staples in every shade. Her streamlined wardrobe supposedly consisted of just 30 to 40 items. 9 Young women of today admire CBK's chic, classic style. Sygma via Getty Images The long-time publicist's sartorial influence is stronger than ever these days. 'I think so many New Yorkers and TikTokkers are inspired by her style because while it's very clean and classic, there is always one element that makes it super unique to her,' Barad said. 'She had that 'It' factor. Even if an outfit looked simple or just thrown together, it was always done in the most perfect way.' Hart agreed: 'A lot of style icons, while gorgeous and fashionable, wear things that aren't practical for, say, a 10-minute walk and 25-minute subway ride to work.' But CBK's looks are still wearable, she said. 'Comfortable shoes, simple silhouettes, dark neutrals. Almost every outfit she wore you could wear to work today — that's what makes her unique.'
The Hindu
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Sebastião Salgado: A life in images
In June 2022, I arrived in Paris for a conference. I landed a few days early and indulged in the usual delights — eating, walking, and visiting museums. A friend who lived and worked in the city was immensely generous in his hospitality and offered to show me around. One day, as I stepped out of the metro station, my attention was drawn to a bamboo structure in the middle of a fairly large public square, surrounded by towering buildings. The square was alive with activity — employees leaving work, travellers entering or exiting the metro station, families out for a stroll, and immigrants selling Paris-themed merchandise. The bamboo structure was an anomaly. When I went closer, I saw the name Sebastião Salgado written in bold. My questions were partially answered and I slowly realised where I had accidentally arrived. I had almost forgotten that Paris was, after all, Salgado's city, a place he called home after leaving Brazil in 1969 in protest against the military dictatorship. Economist turned photographer Born on February 8, 1944, in Aimorés, Salgado earned a Ph.D in economics in Paris before becoming a full-time photographer. Celebrated for his black-and-white images of humanity and nature, he died of leukaemia in Paris on May 23, 2025, at the age of 81. He developed the illness after contracting a particular type of malaria in 2010. Salgado is survived by his wife, Lélia, their two sons, Juliano and Rodrigo, and two grandchildren, Flavio and Nara. The story goes that Lélia gifted him his first camera. Salgado would later say that photography gradually 'invaded'' his life, eventually leading him to end his career in economics. I was thrilled at the chance to see Salgado's work up close. Until then, like many of his admirers in India, I had only seen his photographs in books or digital reproductions. In Paris, museum visits and exhibitions are usually booked months in advance. But here I was in the middle of nowhere, watching the work of one of the most well-known photographers in the world without any prior planning. Anybody who was interested could walk in. There were no long queues, just an entry ticket. It felt like a powerful example of art reaching out to people beyond the confines of elite institutions. And this is something that Salgado believed in. Documenting nature and humanity Lest we forget, it was his frequent trips to Africa and Latin America during his stint as an economist at the International Coffee Organisation in London that turned him into a full-time photographer. He began photo-documenting coffee production in Africa and Latin America, and this made him leave his job, and become a freelance photographer with the photo agency, Sygma. Social documentary was at the core of his practice. His largely black-and-white photographs captured a wide range of issues: economic adversities, the impact of climate change on mankind, shrinking natural habitats, among other socio-economic challenges plaguing the world. Critics often accused him of 'aestheticising misery'. In an interview with The Guardian last year, he said, 'Why should the poor world be uglier than the rich world?... I came from the third world... The pictures I took, I took from my side, from my world, from where I come.' As I moved through the exhibition, the intention behind its design and curation became increasingly clear. The bamboo structure housing Salgado's photographs had been designed by Colombian architects Simón Vélez and Stefana Simic, both renowned for their work in sustainable architecture. The exhibition itself was curated and designed by Salgado's wife and long-time collaborator, Lélia. Timeless monochromes The central theme of the exhibition was water. As with his previous work, all the photographs were in black and white. This aesthetic echoed his other major projects, including his Amazon series and the large-scale reforestation initiative in Brazil, where he and Lélia oversaw the planting of more than 2.5 million trees on degraded land. And there are many more — Workers (a series on manual labour), Migrations (on people displaced by socio-economic and environmental factors), Other Americas (lives of peasants in Latin America) and his photographs of gold mine workers in Brazil. Here was an artist who was a tireless commentator and documentarian. The Salt of the Earth (2014), a biographical documentary directed by Wim Wenders and Salgado's son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, offers a beautiful portrait of the artist and his work. The pavilion built to exhibit Salgado's work was directly conversant with the photographs on display, evoking the need for ecological balance and preservation. There were photos from across the globe, with water as the central metaphor. India was prominently represented too, with scenes from Mumbai, Varanasi, Kolkata, and parts of Rajasthan. Standing there, surrounded by these powerful images in the heart of a foreign city, felt like a profoundly special moment. I returned to the exhibition several times, lingering before each photograph to take in the intricate details — the people, the ecosystems, and the habitats that Salgado had so meticulously documented. His deep humanism radiated through every frame. With Salgado's passing, the world has lost a great chronicler of our turbulent times. The truest tribute to his legacy is to embrace his message — one of compassion, conservation, and co-existence. The writer is a critic and cultural commentator, and teaches at FLAME University, Pune.
Forbes
28-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Britney Spears Earns Her First New Album Debut In Almost A Decade
Britney Spears's Oops!... I Did It Again returns thanks to a twenty-fifth anniversary edition, ... More debuting at No. 41 on the Official Album Downloads chart. The singer performing on stage at Paris Zenith. (Photo by Jeremy Bembaron/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images) A quarter-century ago, Britney Spears changed pop music forever when she released her album Oops!... I Did It Again. The full-length proved she was a true force to be reckoned with in the top 40 space, and it signaled that she would be sticking around for quite a while. The singer's sophomore set produced some of her most familiar tunes – including the title track – and fans still love everything about it to this day. The set is a bestseller again in the United Kingdom, and this week, it appears on multiple charts… and even manages to earn Spears her first new placement on one list in almost a decade. Oops!... I Did It Again debuts on this week's Official Album Downloads chart, which ranks the top downloaded full-lengths and EPs across the country on platforms like iTunes, Amazon, and others. Spears's set opens at No. 41, narrowly missing out on becoming a top 40 bestseller. Amazingly, this frame marks the first time Oops!... I Did It Again has appeared on this ranking. When the project was first released, streaming didn't exist, so there weren't separate rankings for sales and general consumption when it came to songs or albums. That means older efforts, like Oops!... I Did It Again, sometimes debut on tallies such as this one well after their heyday. Spears earns her career eighth appearance on the Official Album Downloads chart this week. Oops!... I Did It Again brings the singer her first win on the list since September 2016. Just under a decade ago, Glory debuted that month and rose to No. 4, spending just three weeks somewhere on the tally. As it debuts on the Official Album Downloads chart, Oops!... I Did It Again also manages to return to the Official Albums Sales list, though it's not new to that ranking. In fact, the title has now spent three frames on the roster. It launched in 2020 and last appeared on the tally — which looks at all forms of purchases in the country — in April 2023, when it reached its all-time peak of No. 52. To celebrate Oops!... I Did It Again turning 25, Spears released a special anniversary edition of the album on May 16. The project, available digitally as well as on collectible vinyl, included multiple alternative recordings and remixes, expanding the set considerably.
New European
27-05-2025
- General
- New European
Sebastião Salgado, Brazil's poet of dignity and decay
The 81-year-old was an economist who became an extraordinary photographer, who then became a powerful force for environmental regeneration. Instituto Terra led the reforestation of 17,000 acres of land in Brazil, planting more than three million trees so far. 'We can rebuild the planet that we destroyed, and we must,' Salgado once said. It is work that will continue under his partner, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, and their two sons. 'He sowed hope where there was devastation.' That was part of the message from Instituto Terra, the Brazilian non-profit conservation charity, last week announcing the death of its co-founder, the great Sebastião Salgado. Shrouded against the morning wind, refugees wait in the Korem camp, Ethiopia, 1984 The Brooks Range, Alaska, June and July 2009 Chinstrap penguins in the South Sandwich Islands, 2009 Photos: Sebastião Salgado/nbpictures The programme was financed by Salgado's photography, his trademark black and white images that appear to be lit by God. They explore mankind's deep connection to places being ripped apart by the 'progress' of industry. Perhaps most famous are his almost biblical shots of scores of workers toiling like ants in the Serra Pelada goldmine. His speciality, he said, was 'the dignity of humanity'. Salgado was a 29-year-old working in the coffee industry when Lélia bought a camera in 1971. Within weeks, he had one of his own, then a darkroom, then work as a freelance news photographer. He progressed to become a staff photographer at the industry's most celebrated agencies – including Sygma and Magnum – before branching out with Lélia on large-scale documentary projects of their own. Subjects included disappearing wildlife, displaced people fleeing war and climate catastrophe, Kuwaiti oil fires, and tribes from the Amazon to the Arctic. Around 50,000 men work in the opencast Serra Pelada goldmine in the state of Pará in Brazil, 1986 Sebastião Salgado in 2023 Photos: Sebastião Salgado/nbpictures; Francesco Prandoni/Getty Salgado was proud of forging close relationships with the people he photographed, claiming that the success of the Serra Pelgada photos – which caused a sensation when published by the Sunday Times in the late 1980s – was because 'I know every one of those miners, I've lived among them. They are all my friends.' His quest for the real came at a cost; he died of leukaemia, his bone marrow function having been badly damaged by malaria contracted on a work trip to New Guinea in 2010. Yet his beautiful images of people in extremis saw Salgado called by some a hypocritical exploiter. A 1980s campaign for Silk Cut cigarettes, in which tribesmen from Papua New Guinea carried the famous purple silk, proved particularly controversial. It was a charge Salgado rejected, telling the Guardian last year: 'They say I was an 'aesthete of misery' and tried to impose beauty on the poor world. But why should the poor world be uglier than the rich world? The light here is the same as there. The dignity here is the same as there.'
